Hey so meant to post this like two days ago but I've been busy and I've also been getting caught up writing the next chapters that I completely forgot! So this was originally 2 chapters but I decided I need to get on with the story just a little faster. If you guys think this would work better as two chapters I'll edit it and repost it as such :)
Quick question: Have you guys seen the youtube video Ultimatum yet? If not go check it out! OMG best Caskett video ever! Almost the entire cast retweeted it, it's that good! PM me and I'll send you the link if you'd like :)
Enjoy :)
"My name's Carla Baglien. I'm a college student at NYU and I have a part time job at the Pine Tavern bar. A few years back, I was working the night shift, covering for a friend, and Detective Kate Beckett was there. She had a few too many glasses of Scotch, if you know what I mean. I listened to her talk about her work, her friends, some TV show. Then she started to talk about, uh, some deep stuff. She told me that when she was 19 she hired a hitman to kill her mom and a couple of her mom's friends as well. The detective also said she killed that hitman before he could tell anyone she was the one who hired him. At first I thought she was just making it up, people can make up some pretty weird stuff when they're flat out drunk. Then a few months back, I saw her on this news story about how the FBI was looking at her for hiring a hitman to kill her mom. So I knew I should step forward."
"I'll get you out." Castle said, from across the cement table of the prison yard. Kate was smiling at him and the children, Carson sitting to his left and Samara to his right. "I think I figured it out. I'll send what I've got to the lawyer tonight. How are you holding up in here?"
With a quick glance towards the children, Kate considered what to say. She didn't want to tell them she couldn't go a day without being beat up. She didn't want to say it, but she knew they knew. They could see the bruises covering her face and skin. The casts, or stitches or scars or scabs. "I'm holding up."
"Mom?" Samara asked, Kate wondered when she'd started calling her mom instead of mommy. "When are you coming home?" There was pain covering her face.
Kate shook her head slowly, "I don't know, baby. It depends whether-." She was interrupted by three gunshots, one after the other. Three red circles blossomed on the chests of the people that sat in front of her. The people she loved most slowly fell off the bench. Kate began to breathe hard in panic, her eyes wide. Standing up, Kate moved to try to help them, but her hands were cuffed to a bar stretched across a small dip in the table. "No!" She screamed, yanking at the handcuffs. Suddenly guards were surrounding her, removing the handcuffs and pulling her, against her will, towards her cell. "No! Castle! Samara! Carson! No!"
The metal barred door slammed closed with a lock and Kate collapsed onto her bed, sobbing. When she closed her eyes she saw the image of her family being killed flash in front of her again. Whipping her eyes open, the smell of iron filled her nose. Her face was wet, she realized. Lifting her shaking hand, Kate wiped her cheek bone. Once her hand was in her line of sight, she could see the blood covering her fingertips.
Kate screamed and jumped, shooting straight up in her bed. Her whole body was shaking and she threw the covers off and raced to the bathroom. Standing over the sink, Kate splashed cold water on her face, scrubbing the skin. After a minute, Kate slowly stood to look at the mirror, still shaking. It wasn't the first time she'd caught herself trying to wash the memory of the blood off her face after that dream.
Drying her face with the sleeve of her sweatshirt, Kate walked from the bathroom, through her empty apartment and into the kitchen. She'd bought the apartment, but felt no desire in furnishing the place with stuff other than the absolute necessities. At the fridge, Kate pulled out a bottle of vodka and screwed the cap off the neck, before pouring a big gulp down her throat.
Swallowing the alcohol, Kate slammed the glass down onto the island counter, staring off at the window in front of her. After a few more swigs, Kate reached into the drawer beneath her and removed her gun, setting it on the table as well. By the time the clock on her phone flashed 7:30 and a new text from Esposito about a dead body, half the bottle of Vodka was gone.
Kate took a shower, pulled her hair into a bun and slid on a clean set of clothes, slacks, blouse and a blazer. Then she grabbed her keys and her gun and left.
The crime scene was fifteen minutes from her apartment and, with the alcohol in her system, she got there in ten. Shutting the door behind her, Kate walked towards the yellow tape and slid the keys into her pocket.
"Detective." One of the uniforms said, Kate gave a half smile, nodding his way as she dipped slightly under the tape he was holding up for her.
"Yo! Beckett!" Esposito called, waving Kate's way. She turned and walked closer to him. "So, the victim is Queenie's sister. Guess we didn't need her address after all."
Kate shrugged, "Maybe I'll go tell Queenie myself."
Esposito looked around from the left and then to the right, before stepping closer to his boss, all joking aspects of his tone were gone. "Beckett, have you been drinking?"
"What?" Kate cried.
"I can smell the alcohol on your breath." Esposito whispered back. "What was it, Kate? Whiskey? Scotch? Vodka?" At the last one Kate averted her eyes. "You have to be careful, maybe you should take the day off, I'm not going to be the only one that notices. I'll cover for you."
Kate shook her head, "I'm fine." With a little glare, Kate turned and headed towards the body to get a second look.
As she stalked off, Esposito pulled out his phone, dialed a number and listened to the ringer. When he heard someone answer, Esposito said, "Hey, it's Javier Esposito. We went to the academy together? Yeah, yeah. I need a favor."
Two days passed and Kate hadn't slept well either of the nights. She had the same dream of her family dying. If she tried to fall back asleep it was others, Montgomery, Royce, her mother. It kept going until she stopped trying to sleep and drank herself through to the morning. Things had gotten tougher at work, it wasn't just Esposito that knew, or at least suspected it, anymore.
Esposito gave her pointed looks, trying to send a message, he had friends who'd suffered PTSD and turned to the alcohol. Ryan would sneak her mints or gum to try and cover up the strong stench. Lanie tried to lock herself in Kate's house to see if there was a way she could keep her best friend from drinking, Kate kicked her out and then Lanie threatened to call Kate's dad.
Now, Kate was driving on the freeway, gently tapping her fingers on the steering wheel. Behind her a cop's siren wailed a couple of times, telling her to pull over. Kate rolled her eyes and did as the cop wanted. As the uniform stepped out of his own car and walked closer to Kate's, the detective rolled her window down.
"Hello, officer." Kate called, trying to sound friendly.
The uniform wrapped his hands around his belt, saying, "Good morning, detective. License in registration, please." Rolling her eyes, Kate handed over her driver's license and her papers. Once the uniform checked it he said, "Detective Beckett, how much have you had to drink today?"
Breaking eye contact, Kate sighed, "I don't know. A couple glasses."
"Of what?" The officer said, crossing his arms after handing back Kate's belongings.
"Vodka." Kate muttered.
The uniform held up a finger, "Excuse me for a moment." He pulled a cellphone from his pocket and dialed a number, setting the phone against his ear. "Hey. I've got your friend right here. Yeah, sure, I'll wait." Then he hung up his phone and gave Kate a smile.
Kate held her hands out, "Are we waiting for anything in particular, officer? Or can I go now because I've got a death I should be investigating right now."
"Should have thought about that before you drank alcohol and chose to drive." The officer answered, perching against Kate's car. He was obviously pushing her buttons, and quick. Time passed, Kate wasn't quite sure how much, but it felt like half an hour by the time the taxi pulled up.
A medium sized man with gray hair stepped out of the car and leaned back in to hand the driver some cash. Kate rolled her eyes and looked at the uniform. "You called my dad on me?" The uniform shrugged and stood up to greet Jim.
"Hello, Mr. Beckett." He said, shaking Kate's dad's hand.
"Hello, Mike. Thanks for doing this." Jim answered and then he looked at his daughter then back at Mike, and asked for him to give the two a minute. Smiling, Mike walked back to his own car. Jim leaned over the open windowsill looking in at Kate. "Katie, we've got to talk."
Looking away from Jim, Kate stared straight out the window in front of her, "Can I at least get out of the car?"
After a shrug, Jim said, "Depends. Are you going to try to run away?" When Kate didn't answer, Jim took it as a yes and left it at that. "Katie, I told you you had to be very, very careful with alcohol. I had trouble with it, my dad had trouble with it and his mom did as well. You could just as easily carry that gene and from the looks of what you're going through, my guess would be you do."
"I'm fine." Kate cried, crossing her arms.
"Katie." Jim answered in a similar tone. "I'm worried about you and it's not just me. You're friends are, too. They know something's up."
Kate gritted her teeth and said through them, "I am fine."
Shaking his head, Jim waited before saying, "That's exactly what I said to you. Look, honey, I know you went through hell while you were in that prison. Being beat to a pulp everyday for almost a year and a half. Having to watch your husband and children shot right in front of you without being able to do anything. Stuck behind those bars for 8 years knowing that everyone thought you killed your own mother. I understand why you turned to the bottle, but you've got to stop."
"I just had a couple drinks." Kate assured, shaking her head.
"And that could very well be all it takes." Jim snapped. "There's better ways to work through your pain than alcohol. That's what you taught me, remember? You told me I should talk to someone. I only had you back then. You've got me, Lanie, Ryan, Javi, Madi's called me a couple of times to talk to you. All of them, well except Madi, know something isn't right. They can see you're not acting normal."
Kate scoffed, "Normal? What's normal for me, dad?" She turned to look at him finally. "The out of control teenager? That closed off 20 year old? Maybe it's the determined one who became a cop? What about the damaged woman after she'd been shot? Could be the woman who was beat up in prison everyday? Or the broken one when she saw her entire family shot two feet in front of her? Maybe normal for me now is being chased by nightmares all night until I get a couple drinks. That's it."
"You cannot rely on the drink to make you feel better. You told me that, too. Remember?" Jim asked, after a moment of silence, Kate nodded her head. She'd turned her head back to the front window, a few tears jumping into her eyes, but she wasn't saying anything. "What else did you tell me?"
"I said a lot of stuff, dad." Kate whispered, all emotion taken from her voice.
Jim nodded, like that was true, and said, "What about what you said when I told you, 'Every time I refill my drink, I'd promise myself that this one, this one, would make me forget all about Johanna. But all it did was make the pain worse because I knew it wasn't what Johanna would have wanted'? What did you tell me?"
A small chuckle escaped Kate's lips, "I told you so."
"And then what did you do?" Jim asked, he didn't look too thrilled to be rehashing this.
The smile faded from Kate's lips, "I said that 'God never gives you anything you can't handle' and then I took the gun from your hand."
"God never gives you anything you can't handle." Jim whispered back. "Let me ask you something, Katie. What would Rick do if he were here now and knew you were drinking?"
Kate laughed and looked away, tears filling her eyes, "He'd probably handcuff me to the radiator and pour all the alcohol down the sink."
After Jim laughed as well, he changed his question, "What would he say to you?"
All the fun was lost in Kate's voice as she continued, "He'd say, I'm stronger than this. That there are a lot of people out there that care about me and don't want to see me going down that road. Then he'd be strong with me, refuse to drink, too." Kate's voice trailed off, "I miss him so much. I'd do anything to see him and the kids again."
Jim pulled open the door, "Scoot over, Katie. I'm driving you home."
Sorry for any typos, I don't have a beta, just throwing that out there. So how was it? Good? Bad? Should it have been two separate chapters? You'll see the next chapter and realize why I mashed these together :) I think...? Review and let me know how you like it, where you hope to see this go, or any questions and I'll do my best to respond! Thanks!
~XOXO, Becksbiggestfan